Monday, February 18, 2019

Blueberry for Scotland

How do you choose a pattern?

Is there some logic or serious deliberation involved in your
decision or you just see a picture on Ravelry or in a magazine and start
looking for a suitable yarn?

Normally, I spent quite some time thinking about my next
project. Usually it happens while I finish the previous one and generally it has
to be something practical, that someone really need and that will be worn
often. Sometimes though it is hard to make only things that are practical and needed
(socks, I am talking about you!). Then I have to coerce myself into working on
them by promising to make something easy and fun afterword. That’s how I ended
up making my Margaux Red after a two month marathon of gift knitting.

Yet, sometimes a pattern just calls me and I cannot resist.
That is what happened with this sweater by Tomoko Noguchi from Daruma pattern book 3. It has all my
favorite things: unusual and interesting construction and ribbing. Plus it is a
Japanese pattern and I enjoy making them since they are always so well
explained and charted.

The only yarn that would go with this pattern was this dark
blue variegated one from Rowan that I bought to make an afghan for my new house
about 3 years ago. Unfortunately, I have not much information about the yarn
since the labels and tags got lost somehow. It is thick wool that is extremely
soft and warm. However, it turned out that a wooly and warm blanket isn’t needed
here in South Florida. If one day I decide to finally make one it will be from
cotton or acrylic.

This is how I ended up with quite a lot of this dark,
multicolored wool in my stash. I tried several different yarns when swatching
for the ribbed sweater from Daruma. Because as soon as I got the magazine I
just had to swatch for it – my hands were itching. It is not easy to find a
yarn that would consistently look well in simple ribbing – not brioche stitch,
or fisherman rib, or any other type of fancy ribbing. And this yarn was just
flying from the needles, it was a pure joy to work with.

Now it was only one small thing left – to persuade myself
that I really needed this sweater because, well, why would I? My kids keep
asking for socks and cardigans, they don’t want sweaters so it had to be for
me. And winters in South Florida are rather mild.

Then I remembered how cold it was last year in Scotland and
thought that this sweater would go well with my waterproof pants and jeans.
Yes, I definitely needed to make it for our trips to Scotland.

After the decision was made it was all smooth sailing.
Despite its highly unusual construction the whole pattern is clearly charted
and easy to make. My only little problem was with its size. It looks long and oversized
on the pictures. Yet, the back part seemed to me rather short when I came to
the armpits and I decided to make it longer. Therefore I made the front longer
as well. After washing both parts, I blocked them according to the dimensions
given in the pattern.

It turned out rather fitted. The model in the book must
be really diminutive because the sweater looks roomy on her. And the reason she
is wearing it with a skirt is because the original is rather short, almost
waist length.

I already made it longer, now my goal was to make it
roomier. It is not a big problem when you are dealing with thick yarn and
ribbing. After finishing the sleeves (these I made shorter intentionally for my
extra-short arms) and sewing all parts together (if you like puzzles, you are
going to love assembling this sweater) I washed and stretched it width-wise.

My only other change was tubular cast-on and cast-off for
the collar.

I highly recommend the pattern. Just bear in mind that it is
supposed to be short and fitted, so if you want something roomier pick a
thicker yarn or bigger needles.

Lengthening the body is easy – just keep knitting till the
desired length (in my case I had to make only 8 additional rows). Shortening
the sleeves was also not a big deal. Since you pick up two additional stitches
around 11 middle stitches in every other row and the sleeve increases are
happening only in every 5th or 10th row (I don’t remember
anymore), you have to decrease 2 stitches at the beginning and end of every
other row to compensate for the increases. As soon as I had 61 stitches total
required for the sleeve (73rd row in my case) I casted off all
stitches.

Oh, and use a stretchy cast off everywhere if you want your
sweater to move and stretch with your body.

More pictures on my Ravelry page. I called this sweater Blueberry because I couldn't translate its Japanese name.